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Oklahoma signs confidentiality agreements with railroads on oil shipments
“The department cited an exemption in the Oklahoma Open Records Act regarding “information relating to terrorism” as a reason to withhold the information.”
The terror of a accidental calamity that is unintentional versus the intentional act of terrorism is poised against secrecy and freedom of information.
What seems to be overkill is the fact that these manifests are so common and follow such predictable routes, I would think secrecy poised against the public is a red herring IE what you don’t know can’t hurt you. Any terrorist could easily find a target just be taking 48 hours to observe the obvious.
Brucr, while your terrorist takes 48 hours to determine the obvious, he or she can be noticed by railroad and law enforcement personnel. Meanwhile who knows how many nut cases are getting the info served to them on a silver platter via their internet connection.
Yes I agree, knowing certain information could help first responders, but how much will it actually help in practice? If a town learns that the track that goes through their town is now handling large amounts of crude, they can develop an accident response plan for first responders. Knowing who to call for additional help, which agencies are better at containing petroleum spills, which hospitals can better treat burn victims, numbers for air ambulance, etc. But after the plan is established, how does it help? At noon when the train comes through are more people brought in to the fire/ambulance company? Do they do a communication check at 11:45 to insure everyone is ready? Don’t hang the hoses in the tower until 12:20? Not trying to be sarcastic, but I truly can’t think of how this knowledge could legitimately be used? Any thoughts Trains readers?
What I really don’t understand is “How does Joe B. Public becoming more aware of crude oil shipments prevent a disaster?”
“Well Larry, because I can’t afford to hire a car crusher, I was planning on putting my old car on the tracks to have the locomotive do that. But now that I have become more aware that a crude oil shipment will be coming by my house at 12:00, I’ll wait for another train. Being an aware person now, I know that if the train should derail and catch on fire, it would scorch my eyebrows, burn Ma’s roses and maybe even my house! Only an idiot would put a junk car on a track knowing the train was hauling oil! Come to think of it, I could use a new house? Dang; now I’m all confused what to do?”
One of the indicators of a free society is the freedom of expression necessary to maintain an informed public. This is just one more phony move to limit citizen knowledge of events that truly might affect them under the umbrella of national security. Anyone with decent eyesight can spot a crude train miles away. Withholding information from the public won’t limit the potential of it “falling into the wrong people’s hands.”
Do you Left Coast complainers really want everybody and their pet dog knowing when something is coming through town that has the potential to blow your town to the moon? I would prefer that first responders know in order to appropriately plan, but beyond that I see no reason whatsoever for every Tom, Dick, and Jerk to have that information.